As for grilling, you can't see it on the image but the way our land slopes allows us to have a partial walkout. So there will be a small concrete patio that is accessible from the door leading out from the mudroom. We will grill there and that is also where the kids can come in and out from outside. That is a really steep right to left slope you must have if you can be flat outside the mudroom and have a walk-out basement. Is the photo you posted of the back of the house what the back of this house would look like? And the mudroom is behind where the porch ends on the left side? Will your daughters play in the backyard? We have a walk-out basement with a covered deck, sort of like your back porch. Ours is only 8 feet deep, but from inside the family room the deck blocks most of the view of the backyard.

Dsnine.. okay.. well.. I just have to get you caught up on something I am sure about! You are going to experience a lot more bugs than Alaska! I am familiar with upstate NY, near Buffalo, Rochester and Finger lakes. We almost moved to Ithaca but the taxes ;). The summers are really lovely in that zone more than VA! The summer; the heat, bugs, humidity, but I still have lots to do with kids. Plus still need to keep gardening for me (food, harvest, sowing again for more susscesions like lettuce, sometimes carrots (a bit later) and radishes and beets.. but eventually, life suddenly tells me, to go inside and drink some ice tea and homeschool the kids! Take them to the pool, etc. It seems like my choice not to do summer is also based on native annuals that are super happy! And some others like daisies. I guess I was trying to say; I don't try for summer but I keep up with what is going on; watering. I don't like to weed unless a weed is going to flower because the earth gets like a sun burn (top soil death)! And I relax in the heat a whole bunch to protect the roots of the plants I want to stay happy near by. I should have had all my weeding done but, nothing is perfect! Summer to me is a time to get busy and relax too! Lol! It is lovely weather for all kinds of fun in the evening here at least and some days; telescope out, campfires etc. Spring and fall for people that eventually grow green thumbs are a big deal and people that grow cheaper thumbs- FALL! Not only cheaper but surpirsingly well established plants had the luck of fall planting or seed sowing. Many native bulb like plants (perrienals) that will be gorgeous and give you so much interest and spread well, are almost unknown to me without fall seed sowing. Many annual seeds I tried sowing in the spring for our fenced garden showed up the following year due to, my layman's guess, a freeze! There are some nice bushes and bulbs (you will see Lillies in Ohio I bet in summer) that love summer. That is absolutely worth a try! You have figured me out by now that I can't stay away from the plants lol. We were suppose to not garden this year for house! But I was trying to voice that I threw seeds; tickseed, echineace and echineace and daisy keep on each year like almost wild flower annuals here. This is how I define my "no summer gardening plan" (starting self sowers (annuals, each fall, or when a free seed packet comes, even in winter under the snow sometimes.) I want to water the fruit trees and veggies on a timer one day! But we have to share the well for now and too tricky. The summer flowers and ornamentals need to be totally independent plants and they absolutely are! Drought tolerant or just not me tolerant. Watering in the spring and fall is so much more enjoyable with breaks with the rain and cool weather. Summer watering is so hot too, and basically, we feel irresponsible if we do more than for our food sake; very minimal for other plants. Small trees are okay to help start. Winter gardening is a new book topic (and fall too, but that book points mostly to color and sometimes to fall blooms, but chances are if it is foliage, the plant will be thriving in the spring too.) I love talking winter gardening! This is still new to me but what it says to me is mostly about form, evergreen and surprising blooms! The winter garden can be so everlasting! Elegant and besides sourcing the plants, easy! It is lovely to think of still forms placed carefully that add enough grace year round that the garden feels like a familiar room. Much like a favorite tree and a bench or swing. I don't see winter gardens that often and I know I will be one of the first in my circle. Many people have them if you thought about it a tiny bit.. like all the landscaping basic installments that people line their homes with. That is almost exactly it. You just take those plants and make them in front of your and on a path that you focus your attention on instead of something hugging your house or porch, like walking down a brick, or mulch, pea gravel path to a bench and a winter garden delighting around you. That is what it felt like to me anyway! You need to go to more historic gardens than most to find some. Here is the book! It is like a catalog and very few pages are the same but chapters do hold the similar ideas together. https://www.amazon.com/Cultivating-Garden-Style-Practical-Personality/dp/1604694777 Praire nursery is great eye candy too! (And a teaching and design catalog if you read it right.) It can help you sow wildflowers seeds on your septic leach field. We didn't buy a mix from them of it, but have gotten seeds from them before. (It can be pricey but easy and a good source for seeds; they always tell you the mix). They have your style for sure! And btw, you might like some purple grass! A sedge is like a grass (but not) and a wonderful mate to iris and others if you have water spots or gutter runs.

Don't know that "too much light" would be a problem. If anything many terr plants (even the "low light" ones) experience the exact opposite issue. Too much heat, on the other hand, is a very real potential problem. Animals: As Gary indicated, inclusion of wildlife greatly increases the difficulty level and degree of required maintenance. Many reptiles, for example, need a source of UV light. Even small animals tend to beat the daylights out of real plants in short order -- not unlike how steady foot traffic can kill off grass in one's lawn. Insects like crickets can quickly become pests as their numbers increase and they feed on the plants. (And they will unerringly decide your nicest/ favorite or most expensive plants are the tastiest. LOL). And, of course, there always exists the possibility of "escapees". As Gary mentioned, the expanding foam products like GreatStuff are very popular in builds being lightweight and carvable. Plants: Most cps would present little if any danger to most vertebrates one would keep. Those that theoretically could (like Sarracenia and Nepnthes), would typically only be so once the plant got large -- by which point it likely would be far too big to fit with the aesthetics of your terr. (Besides which, vfts and sarrs need a cool to cold winter rest for long term health. Something you would probably find problematic.) There are a number of mini and micro mini orchids that would be possibilities depending upon the light and temps you could provide. Tillandsia might also work but they do require good air circulation (which is why they are rarely used in the pdf hobby). In addition, plants like Cryptanthus, Selaginella, and some types of ferns may prove useful. NOTE: Most forms of Selaginella, IME, will pose the possible problem of trying to overrun your tank if conditions are highly favorable. Similarly, I find most ferns get too big and likewise may try to take over. Some ferns can be managed to a get degree by planting them in a pot in the terr. Just be sure to clip off any runners that try to make a break for it. There are also some ferns that have more of a vine habit and do not look like ferns at all. (A gent I know who runs an online plant supply store for terrs buys one such type of fern from me then chops it up and "flips it". They're apparently pretty popular.)

Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, is the typical recommendation as it is hardy adaptable to varying conditions and spreads rapidly. But I find it grows too tall to be very carpet-like. And it is deciduous so it disappears in winter. My go-to's for spreading groundcover ferns are Adiantum venustum, Himalayan maidenhair fern, and Blechnum penne-marina, alpine water fern. Both are fully evergreen, are low growing (under 12") and the blechnum gets some great coloring on it. They spread much slower then the ostrich fern but they do spread.